[321] [Old copy, shall.]

[322] [An allusion to the proverb.]

[323] This and other passages refer probably to the old play of “King John,” printed in 1591, [or to Shakespeare’s own play which, though not printed till 1623, must have been familiar to the public, and more especially to dramatic authors.]

[324] In this line; in the old copy, Salisbury is made to call himself Oxford.

[325] The 4to reads Enter or above Hugh, Winchester.  Enter or above means, that they may either enter on the stage, or stand above on the battlements, as may suit the theatre.  With regard to the names Hugh and Winchester, they are both wrong; they ought to be Hubert and Chester, who have been left by the king to keep good watch.  When, too, afterwards Chester asks—­

    “What, Richmond, will you prove a runaway?”—­

the answer in the old copy is—­

    “From thee, good Winchester? now, the Lord defend!”

It ought to be—­

    “From thee, good Chester? now the Lord defend!”

And it is clear that the measure requires it.  The names throughout are very incorrectly given, and probably the printer composed from a copy in which some alterations had been made in the dramatis personae, but incompletely.  Hence the perpetual confusion of Salisbury and Oxford.

[326] The scene changes from the outside to the inside of the castle.

[327] [Without muscle, though muscle and bristle are strictly distinct.]

[328] To tire is a term in falconry:  from the Fr. tirer, in reference to birds of prey tearing what they take to pieces.

[329] The 4to prints Ilinnus.

[330] [Old copy, a deed.]

[331] The 4to has it Elinor, but it ought to be Isabel.  The previous entrance of the Queen and Matilda is not marked.

[332] [Fairness, in which sense the word has already occurred in this piece.]

[333] [i.e., Champion.]

[334] Matilda’s name is omitted in the old copy, but the errors of this kind are too numerous to be always pointed out.

[335] [Old copy, Triumvirates.]

[336] Nothing can more clearly show the desperate confusion of names in this play than this line, which in the 4to stands—­

    “It’s Lord Hugh Burgh alone:  Hughberr, what newes?”

In many places Hubert is only called Hugh.

[337] Company or collection.

[338] Head of hungry wolves is the reading of the original copy:  a “herd” of hungry wolves would scarcely be proper, but it may have been so written. [Head may be right, and we have not altered it, as the word is occasionally used to signify a gathering or force.]

[339] In the old copy the four following lines are given to King John.